Machine-readable finding aid derived from XML authoring program.Date of source: Description is in
EnglishFinding aid was prepared using DACSInventory of the Edmonston/Kelly Families Collection
Western Carolina University Hunter Library
Descriptive Summary
Western Carolina University Hunter Library Special CollectionsEdmonston and Kelly FamiliesEdmonston/Kelly Families Collection, 1860-1865Material in English0.25For current information on the location of
these materials, please consult the Hunter Library Special Collections.Letters of Edmonston and Kelly families of Haywood County, North Carolina during the period 1860 to 1865.Collection includes correspondence of the Edmonston and Kelly families and also includes photographs and supporting research on the families.
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright for materials resides with the creators of the items in question, unless otherwise designated.

Soldiers of the North Carolina 62nd Infantry Regiment wrote most of the letters in the Edmonston and Kelly collection when they were stationed in east Tennessee. The letters were written to family members in Haywood County, North Carolina. The connection between the two families was the marriage of Rufus P. Kelly to Dorothy Edmonston in 1855. In two instances, Kelly and Thomas B. Edmonston wrote separate letters on a shared piece of stationery.
Rufus P. Kelly joined Company I, North Carolina 62nd Infantry Regiment as a 1st sergeant in July 1862 (North Carolina Troops, vol. 15, p. 121; see also North Carolina Troops, vol. 2, p. 532). Thomas B. Edmonston, born 1842, enlisted in July, 1862, and was assigned to Company I, North Carolina 62nd Infantry Regiment, and afterwards to Company F (North Carolina Troops, vol. 15, p.117). The Federal Census of 1860 for Haywood County, North Carolina, lists Benjamin F. Edmonston, age 23, and Thomas B. Edmonston, age 18, in the household of Ninion and Mary Ann Edmonston.

Content and Scope

Correspondence (c. 1860-1865) of the Edmonston and Kelly families, particularly letters from R.P. Kelly, Ben Edmonston, and T.B. Edmonston -- serving as soldiers in the Civil War -- to family members in Haywood County, North Carolina, notably Dorothy Edmonston Kelly; additional correspondents include Maggie Edmonston and A. MacDowell. Also included are photographs and supporting research on the families and the individual items in the collection.

Online Catalog Headings

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